Multi-pointed contact pins and test probes of minute sizes are known in the prior art evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,970 and Catalog No. 104 of Virginia Panel Corporation, Waynesboro, Va. The electrical contact heads of such probes require expensive machining operations to complete. In some cases, six to eight machine steps are necessary.
The present invention comprises a drastic improvement and simplification of the method of manufacturing the heads of contact probes in which machining is reduced to two simple passes of a machining cutter across the axis of the contact head on orthogonal machining paths or axes. The resulting contact head is novel and includes a center pyramid point surrounded by four chisel points arranged in two pairs orthogonally. Left over metal between the chisel points forms four more circumferentially equidistantly spaced very sharp contact points surrounding the center pyramid point across the corners of the latter.